News

INTERVIEW

Frederic Ritter (SKEMA 1995), focus on a rich international career with L'Oréal

28 October 2021 INTERVIEW

After training in marketing at SKEMA Business School, Frederic Ritter interned at L’Oréal, marking the beginning of a long career with the group. Now General Manager of L’Oréal Luxe in Switzerland, he talks to us about the key milestones along his professional journey.

 

Can you tell us briefly about your educational background?

I took a bit of an unusual path. First, I graduated from the Strasbourg Institute of Political Studies (IEP), where I studied public administration. After realising that the civil service was not for me, I did a master’s in Business Law then interned in a notary’s office.

But I then realised I did not want to be tied to a single place for my entire career, and I found the idea of staying in France my whole life very limiting. I wanted to discover new ways of working, new cultures…

So, with the aim of building an international career in the corporate world, I decided to enrol in a business school. That is when I joined the marketing programme at SKEMA Business School (called Sup de Co Lille at the time).

After having initially followed a very academic path, this training taught me very concrete knowledge and operational skills to join the corporate world.

I actually joined the job market very quickly. After a 6-month final year internship at L’Oréal, for the Biotherm brand in Germany, I was hired by the group. 25 years on, I’m still there!

FRED RITTER - LINKEDIN

What has your career progression been like at L’Oréal?

After that internship, I started as Product Marketing Manager. Then, in Germany still, I was made Group Marketing Manager (I managed teams of product managers) for the Biotherm brand.

I then joined the international marketing department in Paris. That is where the products and all of the brand’s global strategy are created and developed. I was in charge of Biotherm’s marketing development in Asia. This position was then moved offshore, so I moved to Singapore.

There, among other things, I was in charge of product development for that continent.

Our offering in this market is very specific. For example, there is an entire category of products dedicated to eliminating skin pigmentation problems caused by sun exposure. The formulation and texture of the products are also very different in this market, because Asian women tend to have oily skin, whereas in Europe we deal more with dry skin issues.

So on the one hand I was in charge of coordinating the development of specific products for Asia, and on the other hand I supported the local teams with launching brands and developing their marketing strategy.

After two and a half years I returned to Germany, to Düsseldorf, where I became the Biotherm Marketing Director for the German market (at the time, it was Biotherm’s n°1 market globally).

Four years later I returned to Paris, where I was appointed marketing director of the Europe 5 zone for the Biotherm brand - I was therefore in charge of marketing for Europe’s big 5 countries: France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK.

I then wanted to progress to an executive position, to head a subsidiary or a country zone, but that required significant business experience that I didn’t have. Since L’Oréal is very open to non-linear career paths, I was encouraged down that road through an offer to head sales for Lancôme France. So I was put in charge of that entity’s sales force.

A year and a half later, I was offered the position of General Manager for the Lancôme brand in Switzerland, which was dealing with growing pains at the time.

I was then commercial director for the entire subsidiary and, since last year, I am general manager of L’Oréal Luxe in Switzerland. At the head of a team of 220 employees, I am responsible for the operating account, human resources, the supply chain, as well as the sales, marketing and development strategy of the 14 brands making up our portfolio in the Swiss market.

To better understand the way L’Oréal is set up, you need to know that the group is organised into four major divisions: the Consumer Products Division (with brands like L'Oréal Paris and Garnier); the Active Cosmetics Division (with products sold in chemists, and brands such as Vichy and La Roche-Posay); the Professional Products Division, sold in hair salons (with brands such as Kérastase and Redken); and the Luxe Division, which includes 14 brands (Lancôme, Yves-Saint-Laurent, Giorgio Armani, Biotherm, Kiehl’s, Urban Decay, Valentino, Prada, etc.).

These luxury products are sold through what we call selective distribution channels, in retail chains such as Marionnaud, Sephora, Douglas, or in big department stores such as Galeries Lafayette or Printemps (the Swiss equivalent being Manor or Globus). Our division’s category competitors are brands like Estée Lauder, Clinique, MAC from the Estée Lauder group, LVMH’s Dior and Guerlain, but also Chanel and Clarins.

L’Oréal Luxe is the leader in terms of market share, with a turnover of around 130 million Swiss francs.

 

What are the most dynamic markets for L’Oréal?

For the last few years, we have been seeing very clearly that the growth driver is Asia and more specifically China. There is notably a very high demand for skin care products. And actually, since the start of the pandemic, the demand for skin care products has skyrocketed worldwide. Consumers have felt the need to turn to more personal, more “involved” self-care.

We are also seeing growth again in North America, and it’s a bit slower in Europe.

Moreover, there has been a lot less demand for make-up of late. This is logical in the context of the COVID-19 crisis, as there are fewer occasions to go out. In fact, mask wearing has also had a negative impact on lipstick sales, and consumers are opting more for eye make-up products.

The other major shift has been the massive acceleration of digital and e-commerce generated by COVID-19.

In some markets, such as France, Italy or Switzerland, e-commerce sales were relatively low prior to the pandemic: they represented 4 to 5% of business in selective beauty. These days, the market share is at 12 to 15%.

So there has been a very sharp increase in just a year, and that is continuing today. In the medium term, we estimate that 50% of the global beauty market will be entirely online.

Obviously this creates considerable organisational challenges when the sales force is mainly on the shop floor. It also implies having to develop our teams’ skills in many areas (digital expertise, e-commerce, data management, CRM management, etc.).

At L’Oréal, one of our great advantages is that we had already made considerable headway on this digital shift before the start of the pandemic. An enormous amount of work had already been put into upscaling and upskilling the teams in the digital domain. That has truly been a crucial advantage.

Today, in the beauty industry, L’Oréal is the group that has gained the largest market share during the pandemic. This clearly demonstrates our ability to successfully navigate the shift to digital and e-commerce.

 

What are the key strengths of L’Oréal Luxe? 

I think L’Oréal Luxe’s success rests on several great strengths:

First of all, the complementary nature of our brand portfolio, composed of 14 signatures. This enables us to perfectly cover the needs of all consumers: whether it is Urban Decay, aimed at young people; Lancôme, whose target customer base is women aged 45+; Kiehl’s, an American skin care brand with strong commitments to sustainable development; and perfume brands ranging from Cacharel (a brand that is often popular with young girls buying their first perfume) to Prada and Valentino, whose products are a lot more distinguished.

L’Oréal Luxe’s second strength lies in having placed customer centricity at the heart of our thinking and our strategies. We are very attentive to the expectations of consumers. Data analysis and talking to our customers enable us to better understand them and better meet their needs.

Our third strength is that L’Oréal in general has always invested a great deal into research and development. This enables us to innovate and create new, ever more effective formulas with a highly robust scientific basis.

But L’Oréal is also a socially-conscious company that has made major commitments in terms of ethics, sustainability and diversity. We understood very early on that consumers no longer buy a product simply because it works or because it smells good; there has to be a real sense of purpose behind their purchase.

All of this is an integral part of the strategy of the group, which is very determinedly moving towards a business model that is increasingly sustainable and responsible, with for example very strong and concrete commitments made towards 2030 as part of the “L’Oréal for the future” programme.

That’s also why the group overperforms in the beauty market, in the face of consumers who are also socially- and environmentally-conscious actors fully aware that they have the power to change things through their buying decisions.

 

L'ORÉAL LUXE

Do you have any advice for our young graduates wanting an international career?

My first bit of advice would be to choose the overseas position if you are given a choice between a job offer in France or one abroad, especially at the start of your career. It will always be possible to join the job market in France again later, but starting an international career is more complicated. This will also really set you apart from someone who has followed a very typically French career path.

Moreover, I think that to succeed abroad it is important to approach expatriation with a great deal of modesty, to show curiosity, to understand the culture, and to fully immerse yourself in the country, while leaving aside your French mentality.

And finally, when possible, I strongly recommend gaining experience in Asia. It is an ultra-innovative market that is brimming with opportunities in many industries and, for a few years yet, it will remain the main driver of global growth.

 

Contact: Frederic RitterGeneral Manager Luxe Division Switzerland at L'Oréal

Interview by lepetitjournal.com for SKEMA Alumni 

 

Share